As soon as I woke up, it was time to leave. I got a shower and afterwards ate a banana and had some OJ for breakfast. The bananas were just about over-ripe and had to be thrown out after today.
Paul and I took a taxi to the train station. We were lost in the crowd of people. Paul called his friend on his cell phone. He said we were underneath a certain sign. After a few minutes, he met us. Along with him were 2 Chinese girls. They were students in Beijing. We then got on a bus going to the Terracotta Warriors museum. The girls and I got on the bus and got some seats. Paul and his friend went to get some breakfast to go. The bus started moving and I was a bit apprehensive that I might be stuck on this bus going to the Terracotta Museum without Paul as my guide. But the bus stopped in time to pick up Paul and his friend. Paul brought me back a couple of cokes. I really wasn�t interested in drinking them, since it was about 7AM in the morning. But I decided to go ahead and drink one since it might be the only think I eat or drink all day.
The Terracotta Warriors museum is located in a town about 30 minutes outside of Xian. We got on a highway to get there. Paul said that this highway was built especially for President Clinton�s visit.
Along the way, there were plenty of billboards and other things advertising the Terracotta Warriors. You could even buy a life-sized warrior to take back with you.
The bus dropped us off at the end of a road to the way to the Terracotta Museum. Along the way, there were plenty of merchants selling various trinkets. I saw a life sized setup of the Terracottas and asked Paul to take my picture by them. The owner of the warriors wanted payment in order to have your picture made by them. I politely refused.
We made it to the ticket counter of the museum. Paul and his friends were able to get discounted tickets because they were students. I paid 65 Yuan (a little over $7 for my ticket). The ticket was a small card, much like the type used on subways. On the back was an advertisement for Brother sewing machines.
As we tried to enter, the guards at the gate said we�d have to check out bags in at the gate for safe keeping. I also checked in my camera. This was not a big disappointment to me since I had heard that they do not allow photographing of the Warriors.
As we made it into the museum, there was a small model of the entire site. We got a guide to talk about the entire site. Unfortunately our guide only knew Chinese. Frequently during the tour she would give long translations of the exhibit. After the whole spiel, I would look at Paul for a translation. He would say something very brief such as �This is very important to Chinese history.� I didn�t get too much from the tour. Paul noticed an English tour going on and suggested I go with them. I decided to hang with my Chinese friends, not knowing if I�d get separated from them if I went with the English tour.
The Terracotta Warriors display was just like out of National Geographic. They were standing up in rows next to large mounds.
Plenty of people were taking photos of the warriors. This surprised me. As stated before I had been warned by travel sites not to take pictures of the warriors. However those making photos weren�t be harassed in any way. Paul said that we could get my camera out later on.
The entire building had been built over the pits where the Terracotta Warriors were discovered. A farmer discovered them in the 1970s when he was digging a hole for a well. Each of the heads of the Warriors are unique, as if built to resemble a living person.
During the tour we were escorted into a gift shop. A lady gave a demonstration of what real jade is supposed to resemble. She rubbed fake jade onto a piece of glass. It scratched it. However the real jade did not scratch. She gave a long spiel hoping we�d buy the jade bracelets. However I was uninterested in jewelry at this time.
There were plenty of miniature Terracotta Warriors for sale. However they were a bit expensive. I decided to wait to buy them on the street outside of the museum since it was a lot cheaper. You could even buy a head or a life sized warrior. By the life-sized warrior, there was a FedEx sign implying that they�d ship it back to your home country for you. Could you imagine having a life sized Terracotta Warrior in your living room?
We went on to another one of the pits where the Warriors were being extracted. The archeologists were being careful at this pit. They had extracted the original pit haphazardly and had damaged the warriors in the process. The warriors had originally been painted, but the paint had been worn off due to the light and picture taking. They weren�t about to make the same mistakes twice.
We did get back our camera and headed out to the original pit to take more pictures. By that time the crowds had really started to appear. It was May Day holiday and the entire nation of China had the day off. The result was literally wall-to-wall people at times. The exhibit was so crowded you had to wait to walk up and take pictures. Again, plenty of pictures were being taken, but none of the officials said anything.
We got outside of the museum and retrieved our bags. I decided to get 4 boxes of the miniature warriors. At 5 Yuan (about 60 cents) apiece, it was very inexpensive. The seller double bagged mine, however I noticed the bag was ripping. I motioned for the seller to give me another bag, but she wanted 1 Yuan for it. I refused and decided to take my chances with a half ripped bag.
I also negotiated with a seller for a couple of t-shirts and a Kung Fu outfit. The Kung Fu outfit was silk and had a couple of yellow dragons on the front. One of the shirts, which had a Terracotta Warrior on it, was for my brother-in-law. The other shirt had a read star with �China� in Chinese written on it. I�m not sure how much the seller ended up giving us for the 2 shirts and the Kung Fu outfit, but I know it was about 125 Yuan (about 13 dollars). I later found out the shirts were somewhat low quality and would not need to be machine dried in order to keep the picture on the shirt from being damaged.
After making our purchases we negotiated with a van driver to take us elsewhere. I�m sure where exactly we were going.
All 5 of us piled into a small van, which was even smaller than a Volkswagen van. We got on this gravel road with a lot of bumps. My head hit the ceiling of the van once when we hit a large bump.
After several minutes we reached our destination. It was some big mountain, which the Nationalists and the Communists signed an agreement to mutually fight against the Japanese. We were planning on hiking up the whole mountain. As we started off there were steps along the way. Signs in Chinese told of the historical significance of the mountain.
We reached a part of the mountain, which had a restaurant on there. Paul asked if I was hungry. I was hungry, but not for Chinese food. I decided I could wait until tonight when we got back for the KFC near our hotel. Paul and his friends ordered bowls of noodles. As we dinned I noticed there was a horse with people getting their picture made on it. I think there was some significance to the horse, but I wasn�t sure.
I was growing tired as we made it up the hill. The hill was getting steeper. Pretty soon it was just dirt. I noticed some of the men were hiking in suits. I guess they didn�t have any other type of clothing to wear. Or maybe wearing a suit all the time, even on recreational hikes, seemed to make them seem more important. Who knows�
We got to the top of the hill. There was some type of weird building at the top. It was beginning to sprinkle rain. We got out our umbrellas. I told Paul that I thought we needed to get down of the mountain. He said no problem. I was anxious to get down since I didn�t want to be hiking in the mud with the rain.
As we walked down, the light rain subsided. I guess it was only raining because we were so high.
We took a sky ride back down the mountain. We got a beautiful view of the city. However the view was obscured due to the haze over the city. It must have been pollution.
At the bottom of the mountain we went to Hua Qing Hot Springs. This was an area in which in Chinese folklore, their first lady or queen had risen out of a lake. There was a large crowd around the lake. In the lake there was a statue of a woman. Lots of people were getting their picture made by it.
Around the lake there were buildings set aside which had empty chambers where the hot springs were. Near the lake there was a stage set aside where dancers were performing.
Later on it got to be suppertime. Paul was able to find an American style fast food place for me. This was in the middle of nowhere. Paul knew I hadn�t eaten all day and needed something. This fast food place was a McDonald�s ripoff. It was called �Clam� but obviously they meant �Clown� since there were lot of pictures of clowns around and no sign of clams. Also posted on the wall were Christmas decorations such as Santa and reindeer. It was a bit surreal eating my cheeseburger, fries, and coke with these Christmas decorations around in the middle of Spring. The cheeseburger was obviously not made with beef. I am guessing the meat was either chicken or fish. The patty was light brown.
Paul and the rest of the group were across the street at a traditional Chinese restaurant. After I finished, I went next door. I had a conversation with one of the girls. She was studying Spanish at a university in Beijing. Her English was limited. I noticed that whenever I asked her a question, sometimes she was answer �si� instead of �yes.�
I did make a run to the bathroom. The restaurant workers didn�t understand �bathroom.� I asked Paul for the correct word for bathroom. He told me but said just to say �WC� for bathroom. The bathroom was filthy. I have seen bad bathrooms in gas stations before, but this one took the cake. And in a restaurant!
Afterwards we took a bus back to Xian. There were no empty seats on the bus, so we had to stand the entire time.
We got off the bus and waited to determine what was going to happen tomorrow. I had assumed that Paul�s friend and the girls were going to accompany us tomorrow.
Afterwards Paul and I got in a taxi. This particular Taxi driver didn�t know where he was going so we got another one. This new taxi driver seemed to know where he was going. Paul and the taxi driver talked for the entire time. He took Paul and me to the entrance of the wall. There is an ancient wall, which encircles the old part of Xian.
As we were getting out of the taxi, Paul was continuing to talk to the taxi driver. He later said that the taxi driver was very helpful. He suggested a cheaper hotel for us to stay at. He also gave Paul his beeper number for assistance.
The absolute best part of my entire trip to China was the walk on the Xian wall. It was nighttime � perhaps about 8PM. It was very peaceful. Throughout the whole day, I had to deal with the massive May Day crowds at the tourist places. Now it was just peaceful. The wall seemed to be deserted. We walked around the wall. There were a few merchants selling trinkets. We bought a couple of sets of postcards and miniature Terracotta Warriors. At the edge of the wall, you could see the busy streets highlighted with the lights of the traffic below.
At one part of the wall, a banquet was being held. Obviously it was for a foreign company. The waitresses were wearing traditional Chinese costumes. It got out my digital camera and took several pictures.
We walked to a deserted part of the wall. Paul asked a man nearby where the place to get down off the wall was. He said it was another 6 km down the wall and that it could be a bit dangerous for non-Xianians. We decided to go back from where we came.
We returned to our hotel room. Surprisingly there was an English channel on TV. I remember watching the news in English. Also ESPN was on afterwards.